Smaller Search Engines Matter for your SMB Website

Four Reasons Why TheSmaller Search Engines MatterBy Bill Platt

These days, all search engine optimization gurus only seem to talk about Google, as if Google was the only search engine on the Internet.Of course, we all know that there really are hundreds of search engines and directories available to us, and we know that some of the smaller search engines serve a very t´ght niche of users.

Honestly, I can understand why there is a lot of press on Google, because after all, granddaddy Google is the biggest of the big. We know that mill´ons of people use Google daily for their search activities, and we know that our websites receive a lot of traff´c from Google.

There are actually four reasons why you would want to extend your search engine marketing activities beyond Google. I will discuss each of those reasons here:

Reason #1: Targeted Traff´c

Niche content search engines can be a very powerful force in your marketing arsenal.

For example, suppose you have a website dedicated to helping sell real estate. Does it make better sense to list a house for sale in Google or in one of the many real estate search engines?

Let's face facts. When we look for tightly focused content such as real estate listings, we generally seek out a search engine that will serve our search the best. When searching for a new home, an individual may begin his or her search at Google to find the real estate search engines, but once the niche search engine has been found, there is no need or desire to return to granddaddy Google. The real estate search engine will allow the individual to search through cities and neighborhoods, prices, features and pictures, to find just the house they feel might strike their fancy.

Even in the game of Internet marketing, a niche content search engine or directory can be a very powerful addition to your marketing portfolio. It is only a matter of searching out and locating the niche content search engine or directory that serves your particular niche the best.

Reason #2: Costs Management

The Big Three have each developed their own pay-per-click search models. And, because they are the Big Three search engines, they can also afford to charge advertising rates that permit them to be among the most profitable enterprises on the Internet.

The perception of pay-per-click pricing at the Big Three is that the little guy can afford to advertise with them. But with every Internet marketer on the web trying to compete for Big Three search traff´c, their five cents per-click easily increases to sixty cents per-click, and in some industries, it can climb to five or fifty dollars per-click.

The pay-per-click "auction mentality" really kicks into hyper-overdrive in some industries. And the Big Three eat it up, as do their stockholders. Each day, they dance their way to the bank with your monŰy in tow.

The smaller niche search engines may not serve as much traff´c, but they definitely allow you to reach more people for the same monŰy. You can reach people who are more inclined to buy your goods and services, because they were searching on a niche website, and you can get their traff´c for a lot less monŰy than it would cost you to get the same prospect from any of the Big Three search engines.

Reason #3: Linking for Google Placement

For those of you who are still involved in the Google PageRank chase, the smaller search directories can be counted on as a really valuable asset in your linking portfolio.

Many of the smaller search directories carry some pretty decent PageRank with them.